Illinois principal charged with sexual assault of Wisconsin student

A northern Illinois elementary school principal has been charged with sexually assaulting a Wisconsin student a decade ago while she was a student at a high school where he worked as a dean.

According to the Lake County News-Sun, Curtiss Tolefree Jr., the principal at Beulah Park Elementary School in Zion was charged Friday with three felony counts of sexual assault of a student by school staff and two related misdemeanor counts, and then placed on administrative leave this week.

Prosecutors allege in a complaint that Tolefree had sex several times with a student at Bradford High School in Kenosha, Wis., in late 2008 when he was working there as a dean and that the sexual relationship that began in the student’s junior year continued into her senior year.

It was not immediately known if Tolefree has retained an attorney. A call for comment to his listed phone number in Kenosha went unanswered.

In a letter posted on the web site of Zion District 6, Superintendent Keely Roberts said that Tolefree was immediately placed on administrative leave when the district learned of the charges. She said that there are no charges against Tolefree involving any students in the school district.